Strip Searching a Teenage Girl: The Wild and Wacky World of School Discipline

"Supreme Court Rules Strip Search of Child Illegal"
FOXNews (June 25, 2009)

"The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a school's strip search of an Arizona teenage girl accused of having prescription-strength ibuprofen was illegal.

The court ruled on Thursday that school officials violated the law with their search of Savana Redding, who lives in Safford, in rural eastern Arizona.

Redding, who now attends college, was 13 when officials at Safford Middle School ordered her to remove her clothes and shake out her underwear because they were looking for pills. The district bans prescription and over-the-counter drugs and the school was acting on a tip from another student....

"...The school's vice principal, Kerry Wilson, took Redding to his office to search her backpack. When nothing was found, Redding was taken to a nurse's office where she says she was ordered to take off her shirt and pants. Redding said they then told her to move her bra to the side and to stretch her underwear waistband, exposing her breasts and pelvic area. No pills were found...."

Granted, it's a he said/she said situation, and apparently Mr. Wilson didn't take any pictures: but this situation reeks. I understand how stressful being a vice-principal can be, and how vital it is to probe deeply into any claim that a student is carrying ibuprofen - but honestly now: the court doesn't seem to have said that Mr Wilson didn't get an eyeful of a nubile young student.

What they did find was that the search was illegal, but that Mr. Wilson and company couldn't be sued.

The New York Times has an op-ed piece on this little matter, too: "An Unreasonable Search " (June 25, 2009)